Cliff has operated as a freelance consultant since 2004. He does research, authors reports and is a facilitator and trainer. While at Heriot-Watt University he was also involved in contract research.
He has worked on numerous projects:
- With Spatial Foresight GmbH (http://www.spatialforesight.eu/spatial-foresight.html ) to deliver research-based reports for the ESPON Co-ordination Unit on European territorial development and policy.
- With the Royal Town Planning Institute (www.rtpi.org.uk) to deliver the UK National Contact Point for the ESPON 2013 programme.
- As an external expert for the Royal Town Planning Institute on transnational projects within the ESPON 2013 programme.
- For the ESPON 2013 Co-ordination Unit as a peer reviewer on Sounding Boards for research projects.
- On European Union INTERREG projects.
- On other European projects.
- On Commonwealth, international and global projects.
- On UK projects.
World Urban Forum 9 - A missed opportunity for UK
The recent World Urban Forum was an opportunity to show UK engagement with urbanisation as a global issue. It was missed.
How will Brexit affect Ireland?
The EU has rightly made the issue of Ireland a central element of the Brexit negotiations. What might be the territorial impact of creating an external border between Ireland and Northern Ireland?
Re-inventing Planning - World Urban Forum 2006
The 2006 World Urban Forum was a significant step on the road to creating a New Urban Agenda. Here is my first hand account from July 2006 of how we went about re-inventing planning.
OBE
Earlier this week I was honoured to receive the OBE for services to planning, at an investiture at Buckingham Palace.
How and why the world fell back in love with planning
The Habitat 3 conference in Quito this month is a critical opportunity to shape the practice of planning globally.
Inauguration speech as RTPI President 1996
Twenty years ago I became RTPI President. Here is the text of the speech I gave to RTPI Council on my inauguration. It ends by reaffirming the manifesto published in 1975 by the Radical Institute Group, of which I was one of the founders.
Convenor, RTPI Scottish Branch, 1983
I was elected Convenor of the Scottish Branch of the RTPI for 1983. The picture shows how the Branch's magazine reported it.
A World Viewtime-line of planning over the past century:
In 2013 I helped RTPI construct a timeline to tell the story of planning 1914-2014 for their centenary year. Inevitably the focus was on the Institute itself and events in the UK. However, it set me wondering what a “World View” of planning over that 100 years might look like?
EU and US Congress members plead Israel to stop demolition
The Foreign Ministers of the 28 European Union countries have called on Israel “to halt plans for forced transfer of population and demolition of Palestinian housing and infrastructure” in the village of Susiya in the West Bank. Eleven members of the US Congress have also written to Secretary of State John Kerry about the plight of the village.
18 RTPI Past Presidents sign letter on planning in Palestine
18 Past Presidents of the RTPI have signed a letter highlighting the findings of a recent report on planning in Area C of the West Bank. The letter says that the report "explains how planning is being used to block development and impede much needed infrastructure investment in Palestinian villages, while facilitating the construction of Israeli settlements which are illegal under international law. "